Sailfleet was grant aided by the Irish Government and part funded by sponsorship by: O’Leary Insurances, Dyno Rod, the Irish Examiner, Dun Laoghaire Marina, KPMG, McCann Fitzgerald Solicitors, Smart Telecom, and Smyth’s Toys; as well as by funding from 8 “founder clubs” namely, the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Howth Yacht Club, Kinsale Yacht Club, Lough Derg Yacht Club, the National Yacht Club, the Royal Irish Yacht Club, and the Royal St George Yacht Club.
The J80s will be ready to move to the RCYC on the evening of Sunday the 16th of August. They are being used for an event by the RStGYC the weekend of the 15th and 16th, and will be moved down once they are out of the water. The RStGYC are kindly providing 4 drivers to transport the boats from Dublin to our club. The RCYC has to try to find another 4 drivers to deliver the remaining boats. All volunteers would be greatly appreciated.
Once the boats are in Crosshaven we will need to hire a crane or pay a boatyard to launch the boats. It is therefore vital to get volunteer help whenever possible so as to help keep the cost of use of these boats to a minimum.
Many of you took part in the 4 events run in the RCYC in the boats last year. The Club Champion event was very successful. The 16 crews representing the Classes in the Club were split into 2 groups and each sailed a 3 race series in the J80s with the National 18 Class being crowned Champions of the Club with a crew of: Kieran O’Connell, Tim Sullivan, Stephen O’Shaughnessy and Aengus Grant.
The fleet was also used for an Ocean Race from Kinsale, followed by a fleet race in the harbor where the 4 boat RCYC team was beaten by the KYC team, and for the Irish Examiner Round the Island Race when the boats were used to give our junior sailors valuable experience in bigger boats.
The last time we saw these J80s they kicked off ACCBank Cork Week with a highly successful Invitational Series when Dave Hudson from Cape Town (later to collect the overall Boat of the Week trophy for his win in the 40-strong Laser SB3 Class) beat our own Olympians, Peter O’Leary in 2nd and Killian Collins in 3rd.
This year the provisional plan is:
16th/17th August Boats arrive and set up
20th August Launch
22nd/23rd August Match Racing event (details to follow)
5th September Club Champions event
6th September Blackrock Race/Port of Cork harbour open day
9th September KPMG sponsor’s day
12th September Naval Race – Junior Sailors
25th/26th/27th September All Ireland Sailing Championships 2009
3rd October Inter Club Championships
3rd/4th October Boats leave for Kinsale
All of the above events will depend on interest, cost, and volunteers to help out. Please also bear in mind that this is only a provisional event calendar.
Any use of the boats may involve a cost to the competitor. The Club has to try to recover the cost of use of the boats which includes transport costs unless members volunteer to tow the boats from Dublin, and the cost of a crane to launch (and possibly recover) the boats.
If you wish to help with the organisation of any event, have any ideas for the boats’ use while they are in Crosshaven, are available to act as a race officer or umpire, or are just interested in using the boats, please contact ronanenright@hotmail.com
As mentioned above, the Club is responsible for towing the boats from Dun Laoghaire to Crosshaven on Sunday the 16th of August, and sailing the boats to Kinsale on either Saturday the 3rd or Sunday the 4th of October. If anyone is available to help with this please contact ronanenright@hotmail.com
No comments yet.